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Kuiper, Frits (1899-1974)
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1974 Mar 21 p. 3
Birth date: 1899
text of obituary:
Theologian and Linguist
FRITZ [sic FRITS] KUIPER, pastor-emeritus of the Singel Mennonite Church in Amsterdam, was killed instantly March 7 when he was unable to get out of the way of a sand truck backing up. He was 75.
Dutch newspapers commented on the significant role Frits Kuiper played in the religious life in The Netherlands. Following his studies in theology at the universities of Amsterdam and Leiden, in 1922 Frits Kuiper joined the MCC unit working in South Russia after the Bolshevik revolution. In the process he learned to speak Russian and began a serious study on Christianity and Communism. In 1937 he brought out a book on that subject.
Following his return from relief service in 1924, he served as pastor of the Mennonite churches at Amersfoort, Wormer-Jisp, Krommenie, Alkmaar and finally Amsterdam.
HE WAS A LEARNED theologian and an accomplished linguist. His knowledge of Hebrew was legendary, and Jewish rabbis came to him for help in interpreting the Scriptures. Students in his weekly church membership classes stayed on for years after their baptism into the Mennonite church.
Frits Kuiper was a leading figure in the 1936 Mennonite World Conference, a speaker and active participant and several of the later ones. During the Nazi occupation of Holland, Brother Kuiper was a courageous and outspoken critic of that and any other system of thought conflicting with the hallmarks of essential Christianity. Naturally he and his wife Ans were active in helping Jewish fugitives.
Kuiper was the author of a number of books, pamphlets, occasional writings and hundreds of articles. His last book about Lenin, Barth and Rosenzweig is just now coming off the press.
FOLLOWING his retirement from the ministry in 1963, he taught for three years at the Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Montevideo, Uruguay. He learned Spanish specifically for that assignment.
The cremation of the body took place on March 12 at Westerveld, North Holland.
